Strategist, entrepreneur and commentator Craig Coogan examines issues with his unique perspective. NOTE: The views expressed in this blog are of the author (Craig Coogan) alone. They do not represent any organization, client, or business that he may be associated with. You are welcome to comment below. Thank you for reading!

Thursday, June 12, 2014

And Behind Door Number 2

Monty Hall is synonymous with most generations as the host
of “Let’s Make a Deal!” Average folk are given the opportunity by the host to choose one prize over
another. Sometimes the items are fabulous, and sometimes they’re “zonks.”
Contestants wear outlandish costumes to get the hosts attention. The show has
been on the air for more than 50 years on various networks in multiple of
configurations. 20 non-U.S. countries have their incarnations, though it’s only
currently in Egypt and Indonesia. Afghanistan is not one of the places the show
has ever aired, though the Taliban have shown remarkable adeptness at the
concept.

Bartering is the fundamental premise of a capitalist
society. One thing has a certain value and it is exchanged for something else
of a similar value. I started my consulting business on a barter – a friend’s
company was in distress and asked if I thought I could help. I did – in
exchange for 3 in person referrals since they didn’t have cash. And, like the
old Prell commercials, they told 2 friends, and so on and so on and so on.

Today running a not-for-profit feels often like the days of
bartering, especially when the auction season kicks in. We’ll give you ___ from
our organization if you give us ____ from yours.

In the workforce, internships are another form of barter.
People without direct experience will trade long hours and little to no pay for
the opportunity to learn, gain experience and the potential of being hired.
Many a Hollywood career was born out of lowly internships in mailrooms.

Applying the same concept towards diplomacy seems to have
ruffled feathers. Conservatives who usually have capitalistic principals as the
bedrock of their values are beside themselves that the President swapped 5 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay for 1 American, the only known U.S. prisoner of
war. According to some it was a great deal, saving the life of a soldier and
not leaving a man behind. Others have suggested this is ‘treason’ and an
impeachable offense. Beyond the hyperbole- there’s no actual law saying whom
the President can or cannot talk to, despite longstanding protocols. He’s
entitled to change them. In this case he actually told everybody he would. (This is, in fact, in line with the transparency he promised, that so often has gone missing.)

The frothing at the mouth and the near round-the-clock ‘analysis’
is curious. Candidate Barak Obama in 2007 whipped up some excitement when in
response to a question of whether he would ever negotiate with the leaders of
North Korea and Iran. He said “I would.” It was his whole premise that personal diplomacy and negotiation would
be a marked contrast to President Bush (43) who seemed to choose military
action over diplomacy. There was a lot of discussion at the time. In fact, some
think that the President’s Nobel Prize came in part from his willingness to
embrace discussion over bombs.

My own antipathy towards war makes these analyses more
difficult since the easy answer is that if the U.S. hadn’t barreled into a
military conflict, there wouldn’t have been a prisoner of war to have to
rescue. Since that’s a bit too convenient, being able to rescue an American
without additional bloodshed makes sense. It seems that this individual may not
be the piece of Apple pie that the Obama marketers were hoping for. That
shouldn’t matter.

Now that the world sees that the President is willing to
give a little to get a little, perhaps the Republicans can barter a little more
like the Taliban. Nah, that’s like Door
#3.